1. Field
In general, the field of the disclosure relates to digital video control. More specifically, the field of the disclosure relates new systems and methods for providing interactive game or educational experiences.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Interactive multimedia provides for a user to more fully appreciate a subject by exploring the varied multimedia resources available. Interactive multimedia includes the integration of text, audio, graphics, still image and moving pictures into a single, computer-controlled, multimedia product. The desire for interactive multimedia grows along with the desire for increasing data storage for these programs.
DVDs and other digital media players, such as high definition video players and software DVD-ROM, provide an increased amount of data storage and, thus, more avenues for media integration. Increased storage capacity translates into the ability to hold more information on a single disc or drive. In addition to increased storage capacity, this digital media can provide higher quality video and audio.
Although there are many uses for high quality audio and video products, the entertainment industry desires higher quality audio and video, especially in the video game industry. The video game industry desires high quality with low pricing. In order to make a video game based on a movie, the quality of the audio and video often suffered as a result of the cost. In other circumstances, a quality product was produced that was too expensive to make a profit.
For many years, the entertainment industry has attempted to add video from a movie to use in a video game. The concept was to produce games with Hollywood production values, but add interactivity through branching storylines and sprite overlays. A sprite is a graphics object made up of a pattern of pixels and defined by a computer programmer. The object can be manipulated and combined to produce animated games or graphic screen displays. Using such techniques, these “interactive movies” were once thought to be the future of the video game industry. Personal computer and console game-makers quickly found that film production quickly consumed the financial resources.
Attempts have been made in the video game industry to insert video into a video game, rather than relying on animation or computer graphics. The video game retains a number of video clips in storage. Depending upon the actions of the user, the video game plays the corresponding video clip. There are at least two distinct disadvantages to such a system. First, the video does not play continuously throughout the game. Second, the video may not be imported easily from a movie. Instead, the clips must be refilmed and stored on the appropriate media. Numerous attempts have been made to overlay games on the video clips in both the personal computer and game console industry.
One conventional attempt for playing an interactive game over a video is “Dragon's Lair.” Dragon's Lair used branching video paths to create an arcade experience. However, this game was based around an analog LaserDisc, not digital video. Digital video is superior to analog in quality. Also, the technology used for branching analog video paths does not translate into digital technology.
The first game to use digital video was “Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.” The budget was extremely high and was filmed by experienced filmmakers with professional actors on real sets. Both the high cost and the requirement to film separate scenes make this technology undesirable for interactive movies.
The first full motion video (“FMV”) game was “Night Trap” by Digital Pictures and was produced on both LaserDisc and CD platforms. FMV is video system that can display continuous motion. Some slow-speed CD-ROM drives and low-bandwidth networks are unable to handle the mass of data required for full-motion video, so video playback tends to jerk unevenly. Also, video is often grainy and slightly blurred. Night Trap was also one of the first interactive games composed of footage of real actors. Digital Pictures would later release “Sewer Shark” for the SegaCD platform. Properties such as resolution and color palette were lacking in video. Overall, FMV did not provide the solution to interactive movies.
Other games rely heavily on a mixture of computer graphics and additional footage of actors. “Star Wars: Rebel Assault” and “Rebel Assault II” by LucasArts Entertainment Company utilized video recorded on a stage using professional actors. To add authenticity, original props and costumes were borrowed from the actual film production for the video game shoot. No ships, buildings, or other sets were built for use with the actors. Instead, actors were videotaped on a blue-screen stage, a large room whose walls are all painted in a special shade of blue. After the footage is recorded and digitized, a special-effects technician can use a computer to replace all the blue portions of the imagery with computer-generated imagery of an appropriate location. The budget for this product was very high and required significant time to provide the necessary computer graphics.
In another conventional attempt at an interactive movie, Trilobyte's “The 7th Guest” played video clips as a reward for solving puzzles. The video was poor quality, as actors were filmed on a blue screen stage. Without a clean key, the resulting film had the appearance of blue halos around the actors. Additionally, game play was not related to the sequence of the video.
Other conventional attempts require the game to load a video clip associated with an action of the user. In “The Psychic Detective” by Electronic Arts, an adventure game used video branches and sprite overlays to provide user interaction. When the game prompts the user with options such as “Run Away” or “Knock on the Door,” the perspective view changes based on the user's selection. Through these selections, the game can lead the user to one of many different endings.
The Psychic Detective does provide for constant movement throughout the game. Even through a wrong choice, the video continues. However, the game is not playing a continuous video, but rather playing video clips sequentially based on the user's selections. In fact, The Psychic Detective requires a three CD set to provide all of the video clips and programming.
The Psychic Detective is far from the desired product of a mixture of motion picture and video games. These conventional attempts to provide an interactive movie do not fully incorporate the product of the filmmakers and game developers. Interactive movies require features that are not incorporated in conventional interactive media. The media does not allow a user to “participate” in a movie. The user can neither play the role of a character or assist in an action sequence. Conventional attempts have utilized both personal computers and video playback devices such as VCRs. However, a personal computer is not an ideal video playback device and video playback devices do not have the computing power of a personal computer.
Creating original video content for a video game is a costly process that often does not have the production qualities of a Hollywood movie. Because utilizing custom video content is so expensive considering the revenue generated, conventional attempts are not successful in creating a true interactive movie. What is desired is a move that can be altered to allow the user to interact with the high quality footage of the film studio.